You Don't Really Wanna Fall in Love
by Charlie'sLostVampire
Summary: Leo is a socially awkward first year student at the Academy, and he doesn't want to put up with the crowds associated with shopping at Staples. He calls Dunder Mifflin instead, and ends up getting relationship advice from a salesman named Jim Halpert. Set after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch.


Of all the things Leo Fitz excelled at, socialization tended to not be one of them. He didn't like large crowds, although he did his best to endure them at the Academy, and he was absolutely rubbish at talking to girls.

So, when he began to realize he may have a bit of a crush on his best friend, he found himself at an impasse.

He found himself at two impasses, really. Both of them related to his lack of social skills, and only one of them technically related to Jemma. He didn't expect to have them both confronted at the same time when he came to the realization that he was running out of printer paper.

He'd made sure to bring plenty when he came to the Academy, hoping it would last him until the summer when he could go home and get more from the small office supply store not far from where he lived. But, he really should have expected that things wouldn't go his way.

Halfway through the final semester of his first year, Leo used the last of his paper due to the amount of essays he was writing. Well, due to that and the fact that sometimes Jemma would borrow some without asking; not that he really minded all that much, although now he was wishing he'd protested a bit more.

The nearest office supply store was a Staples in the middle of the city, which meant it would be crawling with people and all but impossible to get someone to lend him a hand. The crowds would just make his anxiety swell, and he would get nothing done. So, without a lot of options and running on a limited timeframe, Leo had asked a few of his professors if they knew about any smaller companies.

It was the Robotics professor who finally gave him the information he had been hoping for and a phone number to help him further. It turned out that his brother, Andrew, worked for a branch of a small paper company somewhere in Connecticut. This way, Leo could get the paper he needed delivered directly to him and not have to put up with enormous crowds and the discomfort that came with going to Staples. He could handle making a simple phone call.

"_Dunder Mifflin, this is Jim._"

Okay, so he hadn't been connected to his professor's brother by the receptionist, but this was alright, too; surely he didn't have to explain his entire backstory and how he found the company just to buy some paper.

"Uh… hi."

"_Hi._"

"I… ehm… One of my professor's recommended that I buy some printer paper from your company. I didn't want to drive into the city, so…"

"_Oh, yeah. I get that. Traffic's terrible. How much were you planning on buying?_"

"Just enough to last me until the end of the semester… Actually, double that. There's this girl I'm friends with and she's constantly stealing paper for her own assignments."

"_Girlfriend?_" Jim asked, causing Leo to blush, and he could hear the salesman typing on the other end.

"No, no… She's just…"

Really, what were the odds that something he confessed to a total stranger would get back to Jemma? He was in desperate need of advice, and he couldn't really ask anyone around here, nor afford the long distance charges to call back home.

"Have you ever had a friend who was a girl, and it's like she's your _best_ friend, but at the same time you sort of want… more?"

At his words, the typing on the other end went silent and, for a moment, Leo thought his phone may have died and he dropped the call. But then the salesman answered.

"_You really want my advice?_"

"I know it's a weird thing to ask, but-"

"_Don't fall in love with her._"

"What?"

"_Do not, under any circumstances, fall in love with that girl. You say she's your best friend?_"

Shifting in his desk chair, Leo rubbed the back of his neck. Jemma was the first person who spoke to him at the Academy, and mingling with the other students, given they were a few years older, wasn't always quite as easy as talking with her.

"She's sort of my only friend, actually. I mean, I have other friends, but she's…"

"_Special?_"

Blinking, he found himself nodding. That description made sense.

"Yeah. Yeah, she's definitely special."

"_All the more reason to not fall in love with her. Listen- hold on, I didn't catch your name. That's sort of important if you're going to buy some paper._"

"Leopold Fitz," he forced himself to admit, almost out of habit tagging on, "But everyone just calls me Fitz."

"_Alright. Hang on a second._"

After a few more moments of typing, Jim spoke again.

"_Listen, Fitz. This girl is your best friend in the world. She's awesome, and she's smart, and I bet she's funny, too, right?_"

"Yeah…"

"_Well, I had a girl like that. She was the coolest person I knew, but she was engaged. We were best friends, and it was great, but I wanted… more. I wanted more, and she didn't. It sort of ruined our friendship. I ended up moving away because of it, and I haven't spoken to her in months._"

Feeling his eyes widen, Leo's gaze flitted to the picture of he and Jemma that she had taken that was framed on his desk, clearing his throat before speaking.

"You really haven't spoken to her in months?"

"_I really haven't, and it sucks. So seriously, man; do not let yourself fall in love with her. Do everything you can to push those feelings away and deny them, because falling in love with your best friend just breaks your heart._"

Swallowing somewhat roughly, Leo nodded to himself. Above all else, he didn't want to lose Jemma. Losing Jemma would be worse than anything else imaginable. He could forget about this crush; it was silly, anyway. She'd never want to _date_ him.

"Yeah. Yeah, alright. Thanks."

"_So, where do you want this paper shipped to?_"

Giving him all of the information he needed without disclosing the location of the Academy, Leo hung up and put his face in his hands, taking a deep breath. Jim was right. Anything that he might feel would only cause weird tensions and muck up what he had right now with Jemma, and _that_ was special.

So, when he met up with her for dinner that evening, he did his best to forget about anything that might have been plaguing his mind for the past few months and, really, it was the smartest thing he could have possibly done. Jemma was his best friend, and he loved being Jemma's best friend, and that was all he really needed from her.

For the time being, anyway; as it would turn out, it was a little hard to remember Jim's advice after he watched his best friend pitch herself out of an airplane.


End file.
